When confronted at problems of the magnitude and complexity that humankind currently is confronted with (the global challenges of the 21st century, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice at all scales, threats to our democracy), and considering the low level of awareness and knowledge about these problems in the general public, the logic would be to start with explaining what these problems are, before looking for concrete solutions. This is the purpose of many information and awareness-raising campaigns by official institutions (e.g. the European Commission) and activists (e.g. Extinction Rebellion) alike.
Despite this, the CosmoPolitical Cooperative starts with the recommendation of concrete actions that address specific problems, and with the development of many other such actions, at all scales, that all contribute to the achievement of a detailed, concrete long-term societal project, the Society of Agreement.
The reason for our focus on concrete solutions that enable people to act in agreement with environmental sustainability, social justice and democracy, rather than explaining them why they should do so, stems from several reasons.
One of these reasons is that these information and awareness-raising campaigns already are performed by others. Another is that they appear to be largely ineffective: information about climate change has been around for decades now, and yet in 2023, a surprising 29% of German citizens, 37% of Austrian citizens and 53% of Estonian citizens still believe that climate change is only a "fairly serious" or even "not a serious" problem (see Eurobarometer report 2023 on climate change, p.24). Additionally, the outcomes of information campaigns appears to be extremely unstable and liable to large, short-term changes (whereas one could hope that scientific evidence progressively make its way through society by conclusively convincing people): the share of people believing that climate change is a "serious" problem declined by 18 percentage points in Estonia and by 16 points in Czechia in just two years (2021-2023).
Our interpretation of why information and awareness-raising campaigns are ineffective is rooted in a pyschological phenomenon known as cognitive dissonance. When the actions and the beliefs of a person do not align, this creates a tension that is difficult to bear. Research shows that there are two pathways to restore this coherence, and two only:
- align action with the beliefs. This is what is hoped for when people raise awareness and inform about the situation we stand in;
- align beliefs with actions, in the form of denial, minimisation or self-justification. This is what happens when the person feels (consciously or not) that s/he is trapped in an action pattern that s/he cannot change (e.g. using a car for commuting when living in a rural area with no public transport available). This latter pathway may look absurd and illogical (rationally, it is indeed), but experience shows that it is used - massively. We believe that this is the core reason for climate denial (in addition to the perverse action of fossil fuel lobbyists and their grip on social media).
This is why we provide concrete tools and methods for people to change their practices and for them to demand at a collective level (at the workplace or in public life). We believe that people will change their beliefs when they have changed, or know that they have the capacity to change, their actions. This is already happening: the EuroBarometer survey of 2023 shows (p.25) that 84% of people having taken at least one action against climate change believe that it is a very serious problem, while only 64% of those that have done nothing share that belief.